Session 7

• Show children the story of ‘Moonshot’ by Brian Floca (video above)

• Think about what the astronauts did first and where the story ended. Ask children why it’s important that stories are in the right order. Explain to the children that in computing, we call this sequencing

Key questions

• Why is it important that stories are in the right order?

• What would have happened if the astronaut put on their boots before their spacesuits?

Rocket time!

• Hand out the 'Steps to making a rocket' (below) sheet

• Ask the children to work in groups to put the steps into the correct order (sequencing)

• Once they have done this, discuss what they found and ask them how they knew the correct order

• What would happen if the fins were stuck on before they had been decorated?

• What would happen if the nose cone was added before it had even been cut out?

• Ask children what they would do if they were a rocket-building robot and had been asked to add the nose cone before cutting the shape out. Discuss how sometimes they would just do the wrong thing but sometimes they would show an error message (say “Error, does not compute!”) because they can’t carry out the instruction

• Finally, ask pupils if they noticed anything that was missing? Explain that there was no picture showing the fins being made

• Hand out the blank copy (below) so that children can draw their version of what this should look like

• Extension: If anyone finishes the activity, ask them to add more features to their rocket and then draw the extra steps in their instructions to reflect this. To really challenge pupils, get them to consider what they would program the rocket to do to help them find out more about the moon, e.g. take photos, measure the temperature, test for water, record the sound, drop two objects at the same time. They could also think about the set of instructions they would need to give the rocket to be able to carry these out
  

Key questions
• What have you found?
• How did you know the correct order?
• What would happen if the fins were stuck on before they had been decorated?
• What would happen if the nose cone was added before it had even been cut out?
• What would you do if you were a rocket-building robot and had been asked to add the nose cone before cutting the shape out?
• Had you noticed anything that was missing?